LOW CARB DIETS, BLOOD SUGAR, THE GLYCEMIC INDEX, AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO BOTH HEALTH AND WEIGHT
ExplorerBob - Barcelona/Spain - Pixabay
In case you've missed it, I am a big promoter of Low Carb Diets. Why? Because if you want to lose weight and get healthier doing it (control blood sugar, control cholesterol levels, control numerous other blood markers of health), you must control your blood sugar. The only viable way to do this is by controlling the intake of foods that your body rapidly converts to Glucose; which happens to be the sugar that we measure and refer to as "blood sugar".
Fortunately for us, practically every carbohydrate you can imagine has been indexed as far as its speed of being converted to Glucose is concerned. This is called the GLYCEMIC INDEX. Foods that are quickly converted to Glucose by your body are not good for you in large amounts, or on a regular basis. They rapidly increase blood sugar, and are said to be High Glycemic Index Carbs (see the "spike" on the graph in red above). Low Glycemic Index Carbohydrates, on the other hand, are not converted rapidly to sugar, thus they do not raise blood sugar nearly as rapidly or as steeply as their High GI brethren.
If you want to really understand this whole concept and how it affects your weight and your overall health (yes; high blood sugar is being touted as a root cause of almost every disease process out there), then it is critical to take 10 minutes and read THIS SHORT BLOG POST.
Why am I blogging about this topic again? Allow me to tell you a story that happened in the office yesterday. A young woman came in for an adjustment. I saw her two months ago, and we had a heart to heart talk about her weight (she is very overweight). Nothing she had tried had worked for her as far as her ability to lose weight is concerned. And in her early 20's, her health was failing (PCOS among other things). After her visit two months ago, she went home and read the Blog Post above and began putting it into action. So far she has lost nearly 30 pounds. And on top of this, several major health problems have cleared up. And the cool thing is "gets it". She understands why what she is doing now is working, and everything she tried in the past failed. And if she can do it, so can you.
Fortunately for us, practically every carbohydrate you can imagine has been indexed as far as its speed of being converted to Glucose is concerned. This is called the GLYCEMIC INDEX. Foods that are quickly converted to Glucose by your body are not good for you in large amounts, or on a regular basis. They rapidly increase blood sugar, and are said to be High Glycemic Index Carbs (see the "spike" on the graph in red above). Low Glycemic Index Carbohydrates, on the other hand, are not converted rapidly to sugar, thus they do not raise blood sugar nearly as rapidly or as steeply as their High GI brethren.
If you want to really understand this whole concept and how it affects your weight and your overall health (yes; high blood sugar is being touted as a root cause of almost every disease process out there), then it is critical to take 10 minutes and read THIS SHORT BLOG POST.
Why am I blogging about this topic again? Allow me to tell you a story that happened in the office yesterday. A young woman came in for an adjustment. I saw her two months ago, and we had a heart to heart talk about her weight (she is very overweight). Nothing she had tried had worked for her as far as her ability to lose weight is concerned. And in her early 20's, her health was failing (PCOS among other things). After her visit two months ago, she went home and read the Blog Post above and began putting it into action. So far she has lost nearly 30 pounds. And on top of this, several major health problems have cleared up. And the cool thing is "gets it". She understands why what she is doing now is working, and everything she tried in the past failed. And if she can do it, so can you.
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